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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

My Mom on Pitbulls

Our family Border Collie, Betsy, passed away last December at the age of 10. This March, my mom said she was ready to get another dog. Her criteria were: a dog that can fit through their existing dog door (Betsy weighed 45 lbs at her heaviest), a dog with short fur (Betsy left tumbleweeds of fur everywhere), and a dog that was calm around my grandparents, who have limited mobility.

RIP Betsy, 2001-2011

I jumped upon this opportunity to look through pages upon pages of adoptable dogs on Petfinder. I sent pictures of several older pitbull-type dogs to my mom. To my dismay, she said she preferred "the Lab look" and that my grandmother "doesn't really like pitbulls". I told my mom that Badger and Mushroom were both pitbull-type mixes and wonderful dogs, but I basically dropped the subject because I've never been able to convince my parents of anything.

Mushroom was listed on Petfinder as a Lab/terrier mix (no longer adoptable)

A couple of weeks later, my mom texted me a picture of a little black dog. It was facing away from the camera, but it looked like a pitbull. I texted her back, "Did you get a dog? Can you take a picture of its face?" She replied that no, they were at a friend's house for dinner, and the picture was of the friend's new puppy. Then she sent me another picture... of a blurry little pittie face!

The teaser...

Apparently taking blurry pictures of dogs runs in the family

My mom told me about how playful and cute the puppy was and how our whole family loved it. I told my mom that the puppy was probably a pitbull mix, and she seemed surprised but didn't stop gushing about the puppy. I reminded her that an adult or senior dog would be a better fit with the family.

Weeks passed without any mention of dogs. During our Mother's Day phone call, seemingly out of nowhere, my mom said, "I heard that bulldogs are very loyal. Aren't your dogs bulldogs?" I asked her if she meant pitbulls, and she clarified (or perhaps obfuscated), "Any of those bull-type dogs." I explained that since both Badger and Mushroom were from rescues, we had no way of knowing exactly what breeds they were, but that they did both resemble pitbull-type dogs. I was confused until I logged into Facebook later that day. I saw that my mom had "Liked" a link I posted - the story about the pitbull that saved its owner from an oncoming train.

Badger keeps an eye out for rogue trains in our apartment

I don't know if my mom is going to end up adopting a pitbull-type dog, but you can see how much her views on our favorite blocky-headed dogs have evolved. All it took was an open mind, some puppy playtime, and some positive press. I'm so proud of my mom!

Has anyone in your life changed their mind and decided to give pitbull-type dogs a chance?